Loma Prieta

Scientists have confirmed suspicions that the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that devastated wide areas of the San Francisco Bay Area did not occur on the main San Andreas Fault, suggesting that the chances of a major quake hitting the area again may not be as low as had been thought. Many experts had thought that the 7.1-magnitude temblor relieved so much strain in that segment of the fault that the chances of another major quake during the next 30 years were considered extremely low.

Do I have special powers? people have asked. Not that I'm consciously aware of. Yes, it's true that in my Sunday column I noted we were certain to have more earthquakes and ought to do more to prepare for them, as San Francisco has. And the next day - boom! - a 4.4 centered in Encino reminded us we have no batteries in the flashlight and can't find it anyway. But no, I can't predict the time and location of earthquakes any more than I can tell you when your broken sidewalk will get fixed.

Insured losses from Monday's earthquake in the San Fernando Valley could exceed the $960 million paid out after the 1989 quake in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to preliminary estimates by insurance groups. However, those early estimates were accompanied by repeated cautioning that it will be days--if not weeks or months--before the full costs of Monday's quake can be tallied.

The new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is open to traffic, and motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians have expressed approval of the single-tower suspension span's elegant beauty. But then there are these facts: The project was completed a decade later than promised and came in $5 billion over budget. It was also plagued by construction difficulties, including a batch of massive bolts that snapped, delaying the opening and requiring a costly retrofit. Last week, state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord)

Although the San Andreas Fault is probably the most intensely studied earthquake system in the world, the Loma Prieta earthquake that struck last Oct. 17 told scientists something they didn't want to hear: There's still a lot they don't understand. "We learned there are some surprises," said William Bakun of the U.S. Geological Survey's Menlo Park office. "We don't understand as much about earthquakes as we thought we did."

Damage reports continued to pour into insurance company offices Thursday, increasing the likelihood that the Northridge earthquake will surpass the 1989 Loma Prieta quake in both numbers of claims and insured losses. Southern California's seven largest issuers of homeowners insurance--accounting for more than half the market--reported Thursday morning that they had fielded more than 42,000 loss reports in the three days after the quake. The figure includes commercial and auto claims.

February 11, 1990 | J. E. FERRELL, J.E. Ferrell's last story for this magazine was about the soil poisoning at the Central Valley's Kesterson Reservoir.

GEOLOGIST TOM HOLZER looked through red-rimmed blue eyes at the two dozen rumpled men and women slumped in chairs before him. He was standing in a conference room in the steamy, windowless heart of the U.S. Geological Survey complex in Menlo Park, Calif. "Has anyone seen faulting?" Holzer asked wearily. He spread his hands, palms to the ceiling. "Anywhere?" No one in his audience--the exhausted scientists of the USGS branch of engineering seismology and geology--responded.

Hours before the San Andreas Fault ruptured through the hills east of Santa Cruz nearly a year ago, a delicate sensor designed to help the U.S. Navy detect enemy submarines picked up a radio signal that was so powerful it overloaded the system's computer. The potent signal, whose origin is still uncertain, has become a key element in a sophisticated mystery that experts around the world are trying to unravel.

Earthquake preparedness drills have become routine in hospitals, schools, businesses and among emergency service agencies; proof that the threat of the Big One is never far from the minds of Californians. But according to new research at USC, a sizable segment of the population may be overlooked in the planning process. Thousands of disabled people, including the frail elderly, will be at great risk in the event of a catastrophic earthquake because planning drills often fail to take their needs into account, said USC professor Mansour Rahimi.

Olga Kolbek may be the only person in the world who wasn't surprised when a major earthquake ripped through the Santa Cruz Mountains on Oct. 17, 1989. She is convinced that the Old Faithful Geyser near the Napa Valley community of Calistoga had predicted the Loma Prieta earthquake that devastated parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, just as it had at least two other major temblors in the past 16 years.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is open to traffic and motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians have expressed approval of the single-tower suspension span's elegant beauty. Then there are these facts: The project was completed a decade later than promised and came in $5 billion over budget. It was also plagued by construction difficulties, including a batch of massive bolts that snapped, delaying the opening and requiring a costly retrofit.

Morning commuters in the Bay Area marveled at the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Tuesday after more than a decade of waiting. Images of the the bridge's towering suspension cables against white puffy clouds and a blue sky appeared on social media sites as commuters documented their first trip across the new span. The entire bridge had been closed for five days as crews put the final touches on a $6.4-billion structure that replaces a stretch damaged during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

September 3, 2013 | By Lee Romney, This post has been updated. See note below for details

OAKLAND -- As myriad officials celebrated the imminent opening of the long-awaited eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, there was a singular star: The Bay Bridge troll. Crafted 24 years ago by a blacksmith and artist and slyly transported onto the upper deck under repair after collapse during the Loma Prieta earthquake, the troll has been much celebrated of late, its fate much debated. With a dragon head, goat horns and webbed hands and feet, it made a surprise cameo Monday at the official brouhaha, when it was dramatically rolled out on a cart shrouded in a black veil.

OAKLAND - The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is closed to traffic this Labor Day weekend as workers scramble to ready the new, much-delayed and over-budget eastern span for Tuesday morning's commuters. During its 16-year construction, the segment has raised concerns. Does the $6.4-billion price tag qualify it as a boondoggle? Will the 2.2-mile suspension span - stretching from Oakland to Yerba Buena Island - live up to seismic safety standards despite dozens of massive cracked bolts?

The Bay Bridge that connects San Francisco and East Bay cities will be closed during Labor Day as the bridge gets ready for its official post-retrofit ribbon-cutting after the holiday. The bridge will be closed from 8 p.m. Aug. 28 until 5 a.m. Sept. 3 so workers can take the old east span out of service and ready the new part of the bridge. About 300,000 drivers daily cross the bridge that connects San Francisco to Oakland, Berkeley and other cities. So what's the best way to get around?

OAKLAND - A state-sanctioned oversight panel on Thursday announced that officials would press ahead with plans to open the troubled eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to traffic around Labor Day weekend. The single-tower, self-anchored suspension bridge - which stretches from Yerba Buena Island in the middle of the bay to Oakland - initially was scheduled for a celebratory unveiling Labor Day weekend. But the project, in the planning since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the original eastern stretch, has been fraught with problems.

More than four years after an earthquake devastated its 86-year-old church, a Catholic congregation celebrated St. Patrick's Day by completing its new one. The new St. Patrick's is a replica of the beloved old church--and an emblem of this farming community, its hardships and its hopes. "It is a landmark both physically and spiritually. It's a real focal point in the community. It's a prominent symbol that people identify with," Mayor Lowell Hurst said.

Until two weeks ago, the construction of a new $45-million Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles seemed an absolute certainty. But that was before the war between North and South broke out in the state Legislature. That was before questions were raised about why money earmarked for earthquake repairs after Northern California's Loma Prieta quake was being used to build a new structure.

SACRAMENTO -- State legislators were disappointed to hear Monday that the opening of a new span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will be delayed at least three months, until December, in order to strengthen the structure after the failure of several bolts. Four state senators from the Bay Area were briefed on the project behind closed doors. Afterward, Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord), who is co-chairman of the Bay Area Legislative Caucus, voiced concern that the bridge project faces new delays after already falling years behind schedule.